what have you done to your bike today?
- Thread starter devon.john
- Start date
SJC69
Club Member
Ideally you should not use copper grease with aluminium, but use an aluminium based or other anti-seize or a thread lubricant, to be really pedantic you should reduce the torque settings, one, as it is stainless steel and two because generally all torque setting are given dry and you will have effectively lubricated and made them wet with less friction.
P.S you can use Loctite as a substitute for anti-seize on Stainless steel.
View attachment IMG_0001.jpg
P.S you can use Loctite as a substitute for anti-seize on Stainless steel.
View attachment IMG_0001.jpg
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And don't copper grease bolts that if they loosen off can have a severe dangerous impact on the safety of your bike, for instance I know someone who greased the bolts holding the belt pulley on he rear wheel and on a later ride he wondered what was banging against the frame yep it was the bolts that had wound their way out
Degsy
Club Member
I recall great difficulty with the BMW airhead exhaust pipe retaining nut (finned) corroding itself into the aluminium heads. Once removed with the special spanner (still got two of the damned things!) the threads were so corroded as to need machining and fitting bronze inserts so it never happened again. Good bike in many ways, but boring.
DWS
Club Member
Never heard about using loctite as a stainless thread lubricant before. Fact is any metal screws or bolts are going to chemically react with aluminium, even the oem ones, so may as well replace them good looking ones.
DWS
Club Member
I have to say in over 45 years of using copper grease on screws and bolts on many rebuilds and restorations I have never encountered any problems at all.
Yep I have been using the stuff since te year zero.
But every one can and do have diff experience.
As regards screws coming loose .Will never forget my first 883 in 1989 the damn battery connections kept coming loose ( early sporty vibrations) I solved it by putting a spring washer on both battery connections and never had them come loose again .
But every one can and do have diff experience.
As regards screws coming loose .Will never forget my first 883 in 1989 the damn battery connections kept coming loose ( early sporty vibrations) I solved it by putting a spring washer on both battery connections and never had them come loose again .
SJC69
Club Member
It is a well known issue with the rear pulley bolts, especially those in Ali wheels/Hubs, the main cause seems to be re-using the bolts, the OEM for the past few decades have pre-installed Loctite patches, when re-used not cleaning them fully and using the correct grade of thread lock and torque appears most often to be the cause.
Installing bolts that are too long and bottom out so when torqued to the correct setting the do not actually fully clamp, installing old re-used bolts or the wrong grade & them snapping or in the case of hubs with nuts & bolts, re-using the nylock/locking nut, which are considered single use!
The pulley bolts should be considered Critical Fasteners and check regularly!
Bolts should not work loose when correctly installed, with the correct torque setting and any locking compound or mechanism!
I know it's not quite the same story as with bikes and nuts coming loose ,but years ago while going up the M1 in a artic I saw a buddy heading back south bound to our depot. Next min my truck phone rang ( it was him ) he said do me a favour keep a eye out up to Birmingham as I have lost a trailer wheel .Well lucky for him and anyone else on the M1 M6 that day I never saw or heard anything on tbe radio or CB about a lost wheel .so we assumed it had come off near side and ended up in the fields that run alongside the motorway .Considering the weight of those trailer truck wheels, the coming off on outside side would have been a calamity.
Our transport servicing dept was 100% good but it still happened.
Our transport servicing dept was 100% good but it still happened.
SJC69
Club Member
I did say 'should', not wouldn't......
He placed a couple of little markers on the nuts to identify if they have moved
Good idea .For a long time on truck wheels they have plastic arrow pointers for a visual check .
A bit of a pain on a 4am run goung round 16 wheels in the dark with a torch ,but Hey Ho the life of a trucker.
Many years ago I received my HGV class 1 through the military, I used it a few times to help out at work but as I dislike driving unless it was a 3ltr Healey or a Etype then I doubt I would have made a ideal truck driver. Talking about classic motors there was a classic car run running through Tebay on Sunday most did have their tops down I thought Mmmm Tebay to Shap with your top down maybe they weren't local. The car that caught my eye was a 1924 Bentley 4ltr I'm led to believe it was worth 300k
Started trucking in 73 .Trucks in our depot had NO radios ,Plastic seats ( sweat arse in the summer ,froze arse in the winter .) Roping and sheeting loads in the pouring rain or soaked in sweat doing it in the heat .Away from home a week at a time now and then and no mobile phones back then .did it 33 years and miss it like he'll. Ended up in 1987 with double sleeper cab ,AC separate electric heating ,cruise control. A real home from home .But as tough as the early days were I would not have missed the experience .often as many as 7 of us would end up at Liverpool Docks on one maybe 2 nights out .We would hit the town at night and get in all sorts of trouble .
A bit like Auf Wiedersehn pet on wheels .Apart from the Healey I had a 2.3 litre Panther .must look for a pic .
A bit like Auf Wiedersehn pet on wheels .Apart from the Healey I had a 2.3 litre Panther .must look for a pic .
Very nice motor, my mates Dad drove for Robsons transport in Carlisle for about 40yrs or more when we were kids we used climb into the cab which was sparse in the old Albions and ERFs
My god ,you had to be tough to drive those old Albions.I was reversing a 33 foot trailer inside a factory in Leicester that was very tight ( used to go there every day on dome week runs ) I pulled out and was roping the load up outside while a another truck ( old Albion ) was struggling to get in .He must have had about 4 attempts and was getting no where. He came over to me and said hoe the xxxx do you reverse in there?
I said well I have been coming here for a long time so I am used to it .He said I hate to say this but can you reverse it in for me
I thought about it and then said ,has that Albion got power steering ? He said NO .
So I politely told him no way was I helping him out and no wonder he was struggling .Ha Ha.
I
I said well I have been coming here for a long time so I am used to it .He said I hate to say this but can you reverse it in for me
I thought about it and then said ,has that Albion got power steering ? He said NO .
So I politely told him no way was I helping him out and no wonder he was struggling .Ha Ha.
I
Gez
Club Member
Nice one. Always been a closet admirer of Guzzi's. Almost bought a California (one of the big ones with massive hard panniers) till I found out it was even heavier than my Suzuki M1800R that I had at the time (and they were f---king heavy!